


Love Defined

by almondchocolate



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/M, First Meetings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-15 04:34:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29927985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/almondchocolate/pseuds/almondchocolate
Summary: Marinette shook her head. "How is love so powerful/special if it is so easily broken and forgotten?”Adrien smiled, “something isn’t beautiful because it lasts."(Or)In which Marinette and Adrien are asked to define love for a class assignment.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 3
Kudos: 50





	Love Defined

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a one shot of an idea I thought could be cute. Enjoy!

Marinette sat down in her English class with a sigh. Due to some poor planning on her part last semester, she was stuck with one last writing class before all of her courses were design oriented. She really didn’t want to be here and she had read that her Professor was a bit eccentric. This likely wouldn’t be fun. 

Hopefully it would at least be easy.

Other students began filling in the seats around her and a few minutes before class began a bright-eyed blonde boy sat beside her. He looked way too excited for a Monday. 

As everyone settled in the professor, Mrs  
Thatcher, walked in. “Hello class,” she said with an open smile, “welcome. I will be your instructor for this course and I am excited to be here. I know many of you are here just to pass off one last general education class, and I promise none of our material will be too difficult. However, seeing as how this is likely your last proper writing class, I take my job very seriously for this is your last chance to learn everything you need to before being released into the real world.” Some of the students rustled at this, seeming to doubt her promises of this being an easy class. 

She laughed, it was a warm and welcoming sound. “No worries, I won’t be too strict. I don’t mean to lecture on the gritty particulars of grammar and sentence structure, though I pray most of you know that already. No, the purpose of this class is to make sure that you know how to communicate through your writing in a convincing manner. Not necessarily to persuade someone to think like you, the world would be awfully boring if we all thought alike, but to help someone understand your line of thinking and how you arrived at a conclusion. That is what I view the main purpose of my class, and writing as a whole: to bring someone to further understand you. Is that fair?”

The class nodded, and Marinette did as well. Despite her misgivings about this course, Mrs. Thatcher seemed like a very reasonable lady. So far her speech had been very promising.

“Excellent. To start off this semester, I want you all to have a conversation with the person sitting next to you about what you think love is. I know it’s a pretty generic topic, but sometimes it's the broadest topics that allow for the most interesting discussions. After your conversation I want you all to write a short paper about what you discussed and what you thought of your partner’s perspective. This paper will be due next class. It will be for a grade, though not a particularly large one. If you want to, you can think of this as a pretest of sorts. I’m evaluating your ability to form opinions, express them, and establish a line of reasoning. The rest of the hour will be given to you and your partner to discuss. You may leave whenever you have finished. Feel free to ask any questions.”

Marinette took back all of the pleasant things she had thought about Mrs. Thatcher. A group assignment on the first day was quite possibly the worst thing a college professor could do. 

She sighed. She might as well get this over with. She turned to fully face her partner but was temporarily blinded when she was fully fronted with his face. He was incredibly beautiful, distractingly so. He also seemed vaguely familiar. 

“Hi there, I’m Marinette.” she managed to say, glad she had gone to speech therapy as a kid to overcome her stuttering. A face like this would’ve been sure to turn her into a jumbled mess.

The boy grinned. “Hi Marinette! My name is Adrien. It’s nice to meet you.”

Marinette smiled in return, deciding to ignore the nagging in the back of her head that said she recognized him. It was unlikely. “It’s nice to meet you too. So. What are your thoughts on what love is?”

“I honestly couldn’t have asked for an easier assignment. Love is happiness. It’s comfort, companionship, and security in knowing that you care about someone, and they care about you in return. Love is beautiful.”

Marinette resisted the urge to roll her eyes. It was just her luck to be stuck with a romantic. “Those are some pretty sweeping declarations, Adrien. I find that I disagree with you. But first, let me clarify. Are we talking about love as a whole or specifically romantic love? It sounded like you were referencing romantic love, but I want to be sure.”

Adrien nodded, “Romantic love. I think that’s what most people think of when they hear the word, especially in a writing class.”

“Okay then. In that case, love is artificial. It’s a mixture of societal expectations, lust, distorted attachment, and exaggeration of the media.” 

Adrien’s face morphed into shock. “You can’t really think that!” he exclaimed.

Marinette shrugged, amused by his response. “Maybe that was a tad exaggerated, but that really does sum up my views, or at least, what I’m going to write my paper on. It’s easy to write from such a negative perspective.”

Adrien looked scandalized. “Marinette, I know I just met you but I expect more from you! Don’t just take the easy route, especially on a topic as important as this one. Write what you really think, not just what’s easy.”

Marinette laughed, “I’m sorry to disappoint you Adrien, but I do really have a dark look on love. Perhaps it's tinted by my own experience, but I think to some extent all of the things I mentioned earlier do apply to the definition of romantic love.”

Adrien crossed his arms. “Alright, I’ll concede to that. Lust, the media, society, and distorted attachment all play some role in what people consider love, but they certainly do not take up the greater part of it! Happiness, companionship, and the desire to make oneself better are all also accompanying characteristic traits of love. Someone to support you and hold you when times get rough, and to be cheering by your side when things are great. Love… love is really important.” his voice drifted off in its seriousness.

Marinette smiled. “You really feel very strongly about this, don’t you?”

He nodded. “Very.”

“Okay then, I’ll concede that love is multi-faceted, perhaps. But it doesn’t conquer all as people often portray it. I would say love is as strong of a motivator as say, revenge, greed, and pride. It’s one in a long list of emotions that contribute to daily behavior. It’s nothing...” her breath hitched as a memory of hers surfaced. She pushed it back down though, not wanting to dwell on the thought. “It’s nothing special.”

Adrien’s eyes narrowed. “Okay. Who hurt you?”

“What?”

He folded his arms across his (admittedly broad) chest. “Who hurt you? You wouldn’t hold such a view unless you had been personally hurt by someone you loved. So let me ask again. Who hurt you?”

Marinette raised an eyebrow. This guy was more observant than she expected. She had originally thought of him as a naive romantic. Perhaps she was just being too obvious though. 

Instead of answering his question, she folded her arms across her chest in response. “First, who are you in love with? You wouldn’t hold such an idealized version of love unless you were in the perfect relationship, or, unless you have never been in love in the first place.”

She looked at him expectantly and a sheepish blush spread across his face. “Er, well…”

Marinette gasped dramatically. “You’ve never been in a relationship, have you?”

He scratched the back of his neck. “I mean, not officially. No.”

Marinette smiled, victory within sight. “Then how could you pretend to know so much about love, huh? You don’t speak from experience, all of what you said is merely a guess. You can write your essay on guesses and assumptions, to be sure, but you can not use them to convince me.”

“Now wait a minute,” he said, rising to his defense. “I may not have been in a serious relationship that I would qualify as romantic love, but I do know people who have fallen in love and witnessed their transformation.”

Marinette raised her eyebrow once again. “That hardly counts. Besides, completely ‘transforming’ due to love can be framed as a negative thing, you know. You shouldn’t have to change yourself for someone you love.”

Adrien held up a finger to silence her. “You didn’t let me finish. Maybe transformed isn’t the best word for it anyways, but I do think that I can use the experiences of others to justify my position. I am a witness of the effects of love on the people I know. Such a testimony must count for something.”

Marinette nodded. “Oh alright. Continue.”

He smiled, overly proud with himself. “I met my best friend a few months before he began dating his girlfriend. Before he knew her he was a really great guy. Funny, responsible, talented, the works. I really loved hanging out with him, and I still do. But after he met his girl, you should’ve seen his ‘transformation’ as I put it. He was just filled with this warmth and confidence. When he’s around her it's like he starts glowing. She’s really supportive of his passions and together they collaborate and hang and it's just... I can’t look at the two of them together and not see love as a good thing, y’know?”

Marinette smiled. This guy was really adorable. “Okay, I can see what you mean. However, your friends are still just an example of young love. Most couples don’t last that long. How is love so powerful/special if it is so easily broken and forgotten?”

Adrien smiled, “something isn’t beautiful because it lasts.”

“Was that a Marvel reference?”

“It was. I found it applicable.”

“Fair enough. I suppose that it was applicable. I can acknowledge that love is beautiful, but I still don’t think I’m going to write my essay on it being good. The pain of ending a relationship with someone you care about is too much.”

Adrien opened his mouth to respond yet he was cut off by Mrs. Thatcher. “The hour is up everyone. I have another class coming in fifteen minutes so I need you all to start making your way out. I look forward to reading your papers!”

Marinette began gathering her things to leave. “Thank you Adrien, for our lovely discussion. I think I have enough to write a decent paper. I’ll see you next week.”

Adrien’s face fell. “Hey, I’m not satisfied. I don’t feel like our conversation is over. Where are you going next?”

Marinette lifted an eyebrow, she hadn’t expected him to want to continue. “I’m going to lunch. I have two hours before my next class.”

Adrien beamed, “Perfect! I normally eat lunch round this time too. Can I accompany you?”

Marinette shrugged. “Sure, I guess. Usually I eat by myself and do homework but I suppose I could use the company.”

“Fabulous. Lets go.” they began walking out of the classroom towards the dining hall. Both of them had packed lunches.

As soon as they began walking Adrien took the chance to continue their conversation from earlier. “So, what you said about relationships ending, it’s a fair point. However, my friend was not my only example. My father is too.”

Marinette furrowed her brows. “Hey, don’t feel the need to share anything too personal, alright? I’m still a stranger.”

Adrien scratched the back of his neck, a nervous habit it seemed, and blushed. “Oh right. Would it be weird to say that you don’t feel like a stranger though? I feel like I’ve known you my whole life.”

Marinette smiled, amused at how quickly he trusted people. “No, it wouldn’t be weird. You feel kind of familiar as well. Go ahead and share what you want if you’re comfortable doing so. I’ll treat it like it's coming from a friend.”

He smiled. “Hopefully you feel like it is coming from a friend, but I see what you mean. Anyways, my father and my mother were very deeply in love. She was his whole world and when he met her he felt like he had finally found the meaning to his existence.”

Marinette laughed, “I can see where you get your hopeless romanticism from.”

He chuckled, “yeah, you’re probably right. He was worse than I am though, completely head over heels for her even after ten years of marriage. His dreams of happily ever after began to dwindle though, when my mom was diagnosed with cancer.”

Marinette immediately sombered. “I’m so sorry.” she said softly.

He smiled sadly. “Yeah, not the easiest thing for a kid to go through. She died within a year of her diagnosis. My dad tried everything he could; he pursued all these expensive surgeries and experimental treatments. None of it worked though. When she died it devastated him. He became a shell of who he used to be. He was irritable and grief stricken, not even noticing all that he still had. That year, I didn’t just lose my mom, I lost my dad too.” Adrien’s face had a far away look on it, and Marinette felt her heart break for this boy. It seemed uncanny to see his expression so forlorn when it had been literal sunshine just minutes before.

“I can’t imagine what that would be like.” she said.

He nodded. “It was rough, but his story doesn’t end there. His assistant, Nathalie, was there for him. She developed feelings for him during their long hours together, and she supported him even when it seemed like he might fall apart. She was somewhat of a mother to me, if not an older sister.” he smiled at this. “She’s awesome. It took years for my father to finally see what was right in front of him, but eventually he did. He healed from his grief and he married Nathalie. Their relationship is different than the one he had with my mother, but personally, I think it’s healthier. They are there for each other and they support each other's interests, and.. I mean I could go on forever. Their wedding day was one of the most exciting days in my life. And they’re so good for each other.” He laughed at himself. “I guess that’s my point, after everything. Watching my dad go through all of this I saw very clearly what the pain of losing a romantic partner looked like. I saw how it affected him. But that pain, it doesn’t last forever. Some of his sadness will always remain, but he has found new happiness that is just as fulfilling for him. Sure, love can sometimes mean pain, but that pain will always be worth the happy feelings that real love brings.”

Marinette smiled. “I… I find myself somewhat turned. You make some convincing arguments and you’ve reminded me of my own parents. I may have been a little hasty in my initial statements regarding love especially since I have two wonderful examples of a happy relationship in the parents that raised me. My best friend as well is in a great relationship so I suppose I have nothing left to do but forfeit. You win, Adrien. I can not debate with you any longer. Love is powerful and real.”

They had now arrived at the dining hall and took a seat to pull out their lunches and eat. As she did so, Marinette cringed to remember that they still had the rest of lunch to fill. “Sorry, now that I’ve forfeited we have nothing left to discuss.”

Adrien laughed. “Don’t be sorry, I’m happy to have convinced you. Besides, if you don’t mind me asking, what made you so… pessimistic in the first place? Asides from laziness, of course.”

Marinette smiled. “Hey, taking the easy way sometimes is the only way you can get through college, alright? I won’t take any crud on that front.”

He laughed again, “Okay, okay.”

“As for your question, it’s kind of a long story, and it makes me look a little pathetic.”

Adrien scoffed. “I doubt you’ll look pathetic.”

Marinette shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m not the paragon of… whatever this is you see before you today." She sighed and took a deep breath before continuing. "You see, in my last two years of highschool, I met a singer named Luka. He was everything I wanted at the time, and very quickly we started dating. He was…” Marinette smiled as a wave of memories flooded her mind. “He was amazing. He was smart, kind, and was full of so much soul. His music was beautiful and we would be content just sitting for hours and hours, him practicing his guitar while I worked on various sewing projects. Life with him… it was everything I could ever dream of. Before graduation we made plans to attend university together. He would study music and I would study design. After Uni I would then become a designer and he would get work with a record label of some kind in Paris, he was eyeing a few. Everything would be perfect. Then, after a few years of getting settled in, we’d get married and start a family." Her smile faded as she remembered what came next. "But, after the summer before we were set to leave for college a scout heard him at one of his gigs. They gave him an offer to sing for a record label in the States. He was thrilled and said yes, and before I had really accepted what was happening he was gone. I can’t blame him for pursuing his dreams, and I’m really happy for him. For some reason though, I had thought that he would hesitate, and maybe wonder if he should stay for me. For some reason, I had thought that maybe he would ask me to go with him.”

“Would you have said yes?”

“I don’t know. But he never asked. I think he thought that I felt the same. That our dreams were more important than the plans we had made. He wouldn’t ask for me to give up my dream of becoming a designer. And I… I couldn’t bring myself to ask him to stay. My heart broke when he left though, and the loneliness and hollowness I felt was unbearable at times. I had thought that love, for I did love him, would secure me happiness. That was naive of me. I guess my earlier resentment of love was less against the actual emotion, but more about all of the hope and promise I had put into it. Seeing the happiness of my parents and friends, it made love seem like all ease and comfort. I just… I never thought that sometimes things don’t work out and the happily ever after you made for yourself falls apart. It’s made me against the whole thing, as unjust as it may be.” she stopped her story, and warily watched Adrien for his response. She had been awfully personal.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that.” he said softly. “I can see where you're coming from.”

Marinette smiled. “Well then, I guess I don’t even need to do the assignment. You and I both understand each other, mission accomplished. Now we just need to write about it.”

He smiled. ”I guess you’re right. Hey, I don’t think you’re pathetic, by the way. Having to say goodbye to someone is never easy. I can’t imagine what it would feel like to be in such a situation. You want their happiness, but you also want your own. There is nothing pathetic in that."

Marinette nodded, grateful for the sentiment. “Thank you.” They finished their lunch in comfortable silence and Marinette soon realized that she should probably return to her dorm and work on other things. “It was nice meeting with you Adrien, thank you for coming to lunch with me.”  
He smiled. “The pleasure was all mine. Do you think…” he scratched the back of his neck again, “that maybe you might want to meet up for lunch again next week? I really like talking to you.”

Marinette smiled. “I like talking with you too. I’ll see you then.”

He beamed. “Great! I’ll see you then!” With that he bounded off, practically skipping with joy, and Marinette laughed to herself. He was too cute for his own good.

As she walked back to her dorm though, she realized that a warm feeling had settled itself in her chest. 

Today had been a good day. 

Once in her dorm she began typing up her assignment, and as she did so she took a moment to consider that with all the talks about love, she herself could quite possibly be the next target of cupid’s arrow. The thought didn’t make her shudder like it once might’ve. Instead, she smiled. 

Love didn’t seem so scary anymore.


End file.
